


First Contact - A SoPDoE Story

by miceenscene



Series: Shakarian - A Descent into Madness [26]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28938090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miceenscene/pseuds/miceenscene
Summary: The start of Mass Effect 1, as continued from my fic, 'Son of Palaven, Daughter of Earth'.
Relationships: Female Shepard & Garrus Vakarian, Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: Shakarian - A Descent into Madness [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1246385
Comments: 26
Kudos: 126





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Son of Palaven, Daughter of Earth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17375786) by [miceenscene](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miceenscene/pseuds/miceenscene). 



> If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend checking out the first fic in this series: [Son of Palaven Daughter of Earth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17375786/chapters/40891325)

Garrus could happily watch Shepard brush her hair all day long. It was mesmerizing to watch the strands shimmer and sway, eased into a languid order before she pulled it up out of her way. Today it was in a bun, all hair pulled tight to her scalp. He approached as she twirled the remainder around itself in a practiced motion, reaching around her to pick up one of the small pins from the pile on the dresser before tucking it into her hair for her. She was smiling at him in the mirror when he reached around again for a second one. It took only half a moment before he could set aside his current emotions enough to return it, warm and adoring. But she noticed anyway.

When the bun was secure, she turned to face him. Her hands reached up to cup his face, thumbs brushing across his colony markings. He rested his chin in her support for a moment, letting his eyes drift shut. For a few seconds, he was wholly aware of her calm presence. He focused on nothing else but her to savor the sensation as it was about to become unfortunately rare.

“Come here,” he murmured, taking her hands in his and pulling her towards their bed. She smiled, but her feet dragged on the floor.

“Garrus, I don’t have time–” she started to protest.

“I know, I know.” He managed an indulgent smile now. “ _ Believe me _ , I know.” He patted the side of the bed. “Sit.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow but followed orders. He knelt before her, admiring the new angle as he sank down, and she chuckled when he picked up one of her boots. With all the care in the galaxy, he slipped her foot inside and securely tied it. He’d seen her do the lacing pattern often enough in the past few weeks that it only took a little focus to make sure he was doing it right. When he finished, she checked his work and then pressed a kiss to his forehead in reward.

“I love you,” Shepard whispered, resting her brow on his.

“I know,” he replied, mostly because he knew it would make her laugh a little. 

They stayed like that for as long as they could–foreheads touching, fingers idly tangled together–till her omnitool beeped with the final reminder. The dreaded time had finally arrived.

“Escort me to the docks?” she asked.

“As if you have to ask.”

A taxi ride that went by all too quickly later, they arrived at the busy Alliance docks on the Citadel. Aside from the few patrolling C-Sec officers near the entrance, Garrus was the only non-human in sight. Humans scurried about in a sea of hair and navy uniforms.

There was a small crowd of gawkers gathered at the far end of the docks. Not surprising, as that was where the new SSV _ Normandy _ was docked. Though it hadn’t been his project in the slightest, Garrus couldn’t help the small spark of pride when he saw it. His mate created that.

“Four months,” Shepard said, sounding half like she was reminding herself more than him.

He nodded as they stopped by the boarding ramp. “Four months.”

“It’ll fly by. We can vidcall occasionally, and you’ll have plenty of cases to keep you busy.”

“Exactly. And I’m sure the Alliance will give you more than enough to focus on.”

His palms itched to hold her again, so Garrus folded his hands behind him. Despite being openly married now for several months, it was still risky to even do something as simple as hold hands in public, especially on the Alliance docks. There were more than a few reasons they’d said their actual good-byes at home.

Her face tipped up towards him, hopeful and forcibly bright. It was a pretty good brave front, but he knew her too well to believe it for one second. “You take care of yourself, okay? No risky maneuvers, Detective.”

As if she had any room to be giving him orders like that. “Likewise, Commander.”

“Don’t worry, Garrus,” Nihlus Kryik said, casually breezing past them like he was somehow expected in this moment. “I’ll keep an eye on your mate for you.” He clapped a hand on Garrus’ shoulder as he passed by the two of them to head up the ramp.

“Nihlus?” Garrus asked, frowning and looking between him and an equally surprised Shepard. “What are you doing?”

“Stowing away. Don’t tell anyone.” Without any further explanation, Nihlus hitched his bag over his shoulder and disappeared behind the doors.

Garrus and Shepard stared at the closed doors for a moment in baffled silence.

He looked to her. “Did you know about this?”

She shook her head, a mildly amused smile lifting the corner of her mouth. “I assume I’ll get an explanation once I’m on board,” she answered with a shrug of one shoulder. Noticing his frown, she patted his arm. “It’ll be fine.”

“Right. My best friend and my mate on the same active duty Alliance ship, what could go wrong?”

Shepard chuckled and squeezed his arm, still smiling up at him. Some deep, selfish part of him wanted to ask her to stay.  _ Don’t go, don’t be so far from me again. _ But he knew how much it meant to her to be part of the Alliance again, and he’d never stand in the way of that for her. She was right–four months would fly by. Hopefully.

“Be safe,” he said just loud enough for only her to hear. 

Her hand drifted down to squeeze his fingers briefly. 

She started to step away, but he caught her hand–crowds and the Alliance be damned.

“I love you,” he said when she looked back. _ Come back to me. _

She smiled. “I know.” _ I will _ .

Shepard nodded once more, then steeled her spine and turned to head up the ramp. Garrus watched her go, not looking away till the doors shut behind her. He could make it four months. Just needed a case or two to keep his focus.


	2. Chapter 2

**2179, Rio de Janeiro**

Sunlight felt different when it was filtered through palm trees and scented with begonias– stronger, more rejuvenating than the tired sunlight of Vancouver. Lieutenant Jane Shepard squinted through the glare off the sea, enjoying a few minutes out in the fresh air. Oxygen still seemed precious after that final round of training. Perhaps that was the point.

She took a final breath then turned to head inside of the old villa turned Alliance training school. One last mandatory meeting had been added to all the graduates’ schedules that morning, and then they were free to celebrate their achievements.

The doors behind her opened again, voices and footsteps echoing down the tiled hall. “I’m going to get mine on my forehead–Hey, Shepard.” Woods and Huang shared matching grins. “You decided where you’re getting your tattoo tonight?” Woods asked as she fell into step with them.

“I have a few ideas. Though I doubt the brass will allow facial tats.”

“Eh, what the brass don’t know won’t hurt them,” Wood replied with a shrug as they turned the corner.

“Soon enough, we’ll be the brass. Then we can decide who gets the facial tats,” Huang added.

Shepard laughed and opened the door to the small lecture hall. The rest of the graduating class was already inside, excited chatter about impending celebrations filling the room. The door opened again, and Admiral Wright, head of the N school, stepped into the room. An older woman with bright white hair, her glare was enough to send even toughened marines ducking for cover. One glance at her severe expression dried up every last bit of levity and pulled all the graduates to attention.

Wright spoke not a word till she reached the podium at the front of the room. “Sit down,” she ordered, pressing a button to descend a screen and dim the lights in the room. 

Shepard frowned as Wright didn’t immediately begin speaking–she was never a woman who held back, but now she seemed at a loss for words. Her gaze lasered on the folder on the podium in front of her for a prolonged moment, then finally lifted to her audience.

“I have… There has been a development…” She stopped and shook her head. “The facts are these. Two months ago, another relay similar to the Charon relay was discovered on the far side of the Asgard system in the Exodus cluster. As with previous relays, all probes went dark upon being sent through. The 105th regiment was sent through the relay yesterday, and they landed on what was presumed to be an unoccupied E-class planet.”

_ Presumed? _ The word jumped out to Shepard as Admiral Wright pressed on.

“At approximately 0600 hours this morning, Arcturus received a final transmission from the regiment.” An image appeared on the screen behind her. Just a still image, taken from a high angle at what could only be called a battlefield. Open area with human soldiers lined up on one side and… impossibly shaped beings opposite of them.

“Holy shit,” Woods next to her whispered in a tone both horrified and awed.

Admiral Wright swiped on her datapad, and the angle changed to a still from a body cam, slightly blurred and at a strange angle. The figures were closer now, but not much clearer. They seemed to be in motion. Were they armored? Or was that metallic skin? And what were they holding? Wright inhaled then the footage started playing, screams and carnage of battle rushing to meet them.

Shepard’s mouth dropped open, watching as the footage jumped from body cam to body cam as one by one soldiers fell. Those were guns, shooting out blasts of energy that easily ripped through armor and bone. The Alliance’s own weaponry seemed to have little effect on the enemy force as they decimated the entire regiment with terrifying ease. The last remaining soldier was thrown backwards with a glowing wave of force, giving a wide view of the lavender sky above. For a full minute that’s all the footage showed, making Shepard wonder why the feed hadn’t been cut. 

Then a figure came into view; overly tall, hulking yet slender, armored in a metallic grey, standing on legs that bent the wrong way. The figure looked down at the soldier, their dying gasps barely cutting through the static. It crouched down and pulled off its helmet. Shepard’s heart stopped for a full beat as she stared at the face of an honest-to-god alien. Two dark beady eyes stared unflinching from behind a painted exo-mask for a face. The bone shelves on either side of the creature’s malformed mouth twitched slightly as it turned back to say something to its brethren, voice guttural yet pizzicato all at the same time. Then it stood back up and lifted its weapon; the camera feed went dark.

Silence held for a full minute in the dim room.

Willis spoke up first. “What the actual fuck was that?”

“Unknown, at this time,” Wright answered in a strained voice.

“How many are there?” Huang asked.

“Unknown at this time.”

“How do you kill them?” Sharma’s voice came from the back.

“Also, unknown at this time.”

“What is known at this time?” Shepard asked, cutting through a few other questions.

Wright nodded once, hands gripping the lectern. “That Earth is at war.” The word settled in Shepard’s gut, fizzing with all the other world-toppling information from the last ten minutes. “A global announcement will be released tomorrow along with… edited footage. But the Alliance is already mobilizing. You are all reporting to Jump Zero and from there you will be given your assignments. Go pack, your ship leaves in an hour from Beta dock. Dismissed.”

So unnerved it had circled all the way back around to numb, Shepard rose to her feet along with the rest of the N7’s. All their smiles and celebratory spirit were replaced with wide-eyed shock.

“Shepard, a word,” Wright called as Shepard got to the end of the row of seats. She jogged up to meet the Admiral at the front of the room, saluting when she arrived.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“At ease. I already have your assignment.” She handed over a datapad. “And you’re being promoted to Lieutenant Commander.”

Shepard’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Already?” She hadn’t been a Lieutenant for a full year yet.

Wright nodded grimly. “It’s war, Shepard. We’re all going to be getting promotions whether we’re ready for them or not. Report to Captain Anderson on The  _ Somme _ in Vancouver.”

Shepard nodded once.

“And give those alien bastards hell.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

**Apien Crest Nebula**

The PFS  _ Havincaw _ was not the pride of the turian fleet; it wasn’t even the pride when it was first launched nearly thirty years ago, and age had not been kind to the frigate. Still, she was a sturdy vessel who stubbornly kept flying. 

Sergeant Garrus Vakarian ducked his way through the thronged crew quarters, narrowly avoiding getting slapped in the mandible by his fellow crewmates all trying to settle in before duties started. Reaching his assigned sling near the back of the room, Garrus pulled himself up the two rows and opened his personal storage locker in the wall. He didn’t have much to store, just a few datapads of books or training manuals he meant to get through. A portable shooting game his sister gave him years ago, some old omnitools he was in the process of upgrading. A hologram of his family was set up in the corner. 

“I swear the personal compartments are smaller on these old barges. Hey, do you have any room in yours?” Nihlus Kryik’s voice floated up from below his bunk.

Garrus shut his compartment and leaned over the edge. “No, why?” Nihlus was trying unsuccessfully to wedge three more datapads in a slot that wouldn’t have held one.

“Damn, I’m all out of room in mine. Hey Leatia, do you have some spare room?” Nihlus asked one of their ‘neighbors’ on the other side of the slim quarters. 

Leatia gave Nihlus an appraising look. “If you make it worth my time,” she replied, holding out her hand.

“You know I will,” he purred, but was cut off when an announcement came over the ship speakers, staticy and only slightly understandable.

“Officers, report to CIC for debrief.”

Garrus knocked Nihlus’ shoulder as he hopped down. “That’s us now, remember?”

“Right. Damn.” Nihlus pointed at Leatia as he followed Garrus out. “See you later?”

“You better, Kryik.”

The same buzz of activity filled the hallway outside the crew quarters, making Garrus pause for a moment till he could merge into the flow of traffic with Nihlus still at his side. He’d long since learned that the first few hours of any deployment was always a touch manic, but this one felt different. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was that made instincts flare. But this wasn’t just like every time before somehow.

Another announcement came over the speakers. “All crew, prepare for relay jump.” Immediately, the traffic in the hall stopped as everyone braced.

“Have you heard where we’re going?” Garrus asked, resting a hand on the nearest bulkhead.

“Nothing,” Nihlus replied, leaning against the wall. “But that’s part of the fun, don’t you think?”

Garrus chuffed disbelievingly. “Sure.”

“I’m sure they’ll tell us when they’re ready for us to shoot something. Those pirates, aim, fire. Usual drill.” 

The tell-tale drop in his stomach of a relay jump hit Garrus before he could reply. The shift in speed was a little bumpier than it had been on his previous ship, somewhere deep in the hull groaned concerningly loud. Once launched, traffic picked back up to its roaring pace in the hallway, but they’d arrived at their destination. Garrus took the steps up to the next level two at a time, arriving just as the debrief started.

“We’ve been alerted by High Command that we are changing course,” their CO said from the command platform in the center of the room. Garrus found an empty spot next to the galaxy map to stand, Nihlus joining him. “We are not going to Aethon as planned, but to the Horse Head Nebula. A first contact situation is still developing, and the Hierarchy is readying to meet it.”

The words ‘first contact’ bounced around the room, surfing on surprised subvocals. Garrus gave Nihlus a wide-eyed glance as he hummed excitedly. First contacts were rare. The last was the batarians nearly a century ago. The galaxy map disappeared to show a rudimentary anatomical diagram of two very strange looking figures, sloped with odd curves and disproportionate to themselves.

“Thanks to satellites previously recovered by the Council, we believe the enemy force to be Humans from the Sol system. Levo-based biology, sentient, previously assumed to be incapable of FTL.” 

Garrus stared at the diagram, hoping somehow that they weren’t entirely accurate. Did they really walk around looking that… vulnerable? He knew few other races in the galaxy had the same plated protection as turians, but somehow it seemed more pronounced on these humans. And  _ what _ was that fur on the tops of, what he assumed were, their heads? Did that serve some sort of purpose? Was it poisonous?

“What do they need so many fingers for?” Nihlus whispered under his breath.

“But as of 0200 local time, not only are humans capable of FTL, they’ve also activated at least two relays.”

The diagrams disappeared to show vid of an open field, a squad of turians on one side and a group of humans wearing what appeared to be armor across from them. Their faces were covered, and the weapons in their hands were strangely shaped. For a few seconds it appeared that the vid wasn’t playing as both groups were at a stalemate, then a single gunshot rang out from the humans, flickering the Captain’s shields. 

“And showed clear signs of hostile intent,” the CO continued as the vid still played. The turian squad retaliated effortlessly, humans falling under very little effort. It was obvious who was going to win that ‘battle’ even before the CO stopped the vid before the end and returned it to the galaxy map.

“At least they’re easy to kill,” a voice behind Garrus muttered and a few others around him agreed.

Garrus lifted a hand and the CO acknowledged him. “Those didn’t look like mass effect weapons.”

“They’re not. Every human weapon found was projectile based.”

An amused chuckle rumbled through the group at the absurdity. No wonder their guns had such little effect. 

“We have six hours till we reach Horse Head and rendezvous with the rest of the fleet for further instructions. Prepare your teams, we may be launching ground assaults when we arrive. Dismissed.”

The officers dispersed. Nihlus was practically vibrating with excitement as they headed back to the stairs. 

Garrus gave him a questioning rumble. “What are you so happy about?”

“How can you not see it? It’s a first contact AND a war–this could not have come at a better time for us.”

Garrus stopped off a comm terminal, opening up the messaging app to alert the rest of the sniper squad of the new details. “What do you mean?”

“War means change. I’ll tell you right now, my friend, we are on the fast track for bigger and better things than the  _ Havincaw _ . Mark my words.”

Garrus laughed. “Consider them marked.”


End file.
